This op-ed is part of a new Harvard Law Record feature highlighting opposing views from members of the HLS community. Related views on this topic can be found below.

Does anyone, on any side of the abortion debate, sincerely believe Texas when it says it is enacting draconian laws targeted at closing abortion clinics because it wants to improve women’s health? Does anyone really think that restrictive regulations that will close the majority of access points to health care, regulations that the American Medical Association believes are unnecessary and counterproductive, regulations that will force many women into the far more dangerous medical procedures of either childbirth or D.I.Y. abortions, are there to protect women from the almost non-existent dangers of their safest option once they are pregnant? The closure of many clinics in response to the regulations of HB2 has led to weeks-long waiting lists at the remaining clinics – it is bad both for the health of a woman and for those who care about the developing fetus to delay the procedure until later in the pregnancy due to inadequate clinic access.

This op-ed is part of a new Harvard Law Record feature highlighting opposing views from members of the HLS community. Related views on this topic can be found below.

In a few weeks, an 8-justice Supreme Court is set to hear a case challenging “HB2”, a Texas law that could close more than three-quarters of the state’s abortion clinics. Pro-choice advocates have vehemently opposed the legislation from the start, citing the devastating impact the restrictions could have on women’s health. Pro-life advocates champion HB2 as a common sense protection of women’s safety.